Cornerstone FS Expects Double Revenue for 2023

Cornerstone FS Plc, a foreign exchange and payments company offering multi-currency accounts to businesses and individuals through its proprietary technology platform, released its unaudited trading data for the full year ended December 31, 2023, seeing significant growth across multiple metrics.

The group confirmed that the previously reported strong trading momentum was sustained to year-end and, as a result, it expects to report a year-on-year increase in revenue of approximately 100% from £4.8 million to £9.6 million. The number of active customers rose to 906 over the preceding 12 months, compared to 803 in 2022.

The gross margin for the year is expected to grow to c. 63%, compared to 60.9% in 2022, which reflects a lower proportion of revenue derived from white label partners following the strategic decision to manage down almost all of its historic white label business.

Due to the increase in revenue and gross margin, along with continued diligent cost management, the Group expects to report adjusted EBITDA for 2023 to be at least £1.4 million. This figure surpasses current market expectations and marks a significant improvement compared to the adjusted EBITDA loss of £0.9 million in the previous year.

During the year, the Group had a net positive cash flow of c. £1.6 million, which includes a cash inflow of around £1.4 million from operating activities (compared to a net cash outflow from operating activities £0.8 million in 2022). As of December 31, 2023, the Group had £2.3 million in cash and cash equivalents, whereas on June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022, the Group had £0.8 million and £0.7 million in cash and cash equivalents, respectively.

James Hickman, CEO of Cornerstone, commented: "It has been an excellent year for Cornerstone as we made substantial strategic progress culminating in a set of strong financial results which significantly exceeded the Board's expectations this time last year. We have enhanced our sales team and expanded our offering, which has resulted in us executing higher value transactions and with a greater number of active customers. With a highly scalable platform, along with careful management of our cost base, we are also benefitting from the operating leverage within our business and 2023 has seen us report our maiden full year adjusted EBITDA. We look forward to updating the market on our success as we progress through 2024."